Windows 10 guest: weird fonts after upgrade to 7.0.10

[Vittorio]

Hello, I am running a 22H2 Win 10 guest on a Win11 host with VirtualBox 7.0.10 with Guest additions 7.0.10r158379.
I am experiencing the following two problems:
1) If I start the VM with 3D acceleration off, the VM starts but Windows shows just in a black screen
2) If I start the VM with 3D acceleration on, the VM starts and Windows is shown but I still have some applications in which the text has some strange overlaps. Sometimes they solve with some scrolling

It worked fine with 7.0.8 with 3D off.

[Vittorio]

Capture of JeatBrains dotPeek 2023.1.4 with some strange text overlaps

[sunlover1]

Could you please attach VBox.log file of the VM with 3D off? I.e. for the case when the screen is black with VBox 7.0.10.

[Vittorio]

VBox.log with 3d acceleration disabled

[Vittorio]

VBoxHardening.log with 3d acceleration disabled

[Vittorio]

Replying to sunlover1:

Could you please attach VBox.log file of the VM with 3D off? I.e. for the case when the screen is black with VBox 7.0.10.

Hi sunlover1, I just attached VBox_No_3D.log and VboxHardening_No_3D.log for black screen after Windows load.

Thanks

[fth0]

@sunlover1: If you find out the root cause, I'd be interested to read about the details.

In the VirtualBox forums, there have been (only) a handful of similar reports by other users for some 7.0.x versions containing the new "Omitting to send size-hints ..." log message, when apparently not being appropriate.

[sunlover1]

Replying to Vittorio:

I just attached VBox_No_3D.log

Thanks Vittorio! This problem happens when VM has more than 1 screen and the secondary screens are not enabled. The fix will be included in the next VBox release.

You could try to change the VM configuration to use 1 screen as a workaround.

[sunlover1]

Replying to fth0:

@sunlover1: If you find out the root cause, I'd be interested to read about the details.

It is a regression. If VM has multiple virtual screens and secondary screens are disabled, then the host will incorrectly disable the primary screen too.

[fth0]

@sunlover1: Thanks for the explanation! :)

[boxer01]

Replying to sunlover1:

It is a regression. If VM has multiple virtual screens and secondary screens are disabled, then the host will incorrectly disable the primary screen too.

Welcome to the club. I described the same troubles in my old ticket (#21515). There are also some issues, and some of them are with .NET applications. I think that we also have some .NET applications here?

@sunlover1, I don't think that my system (laptop) has more than one screen. Or do you mean, that it's enough to have a possibility for second screen, like DisplayPort socket? Even if it isn't configured in VBox and used at all?

P.S.:Oh, I see, this is about black screens. But what about wrong or ignored size hints and the resulting overlapping?

[sunlover1]

Replying to boxer01:

Replying to sunlover1:

It is a regression. If VM has multiple virtual screens and secondary screens are disabled, then the host will incorrectly disable the primary screen too.

@sunlover1, I don't think that my system (laptop) has more than one screen. Or do you mean, that it's enough to have a possibility for second screen, like DisplayPort socket? Even if it isn't configured in VBox and used at all?

VMs with 2 or more virtual screens were affected. The number of screens on the host is irrelevant.

P.S.:Oh, I see, this is about black screens. But what about wrong or ignored size hints and the resulting overlapping?

Right, the mentioned fix is only for black screen when 3D is disabled. Other issues will be addressed, it just takes time.

[TheawesomeMCB]

This issue is also happening on windows xp with both 7.0.8 and 7.0.10. Once it gets past the loading bar the screen is just blank. And since windows xp can't use 3d acceleration (It's greyed out when you install it) you can't see anything, even with 3d disabled. So it's not just windows 10 guest. It's also other windows vm's that are having this issue. I've only been able to get around this is to use the guest additions 7.0.6 or just have no guest additions installed.

[Vittorio]

Replying to sunlover1:

Replying to Vittorio:

I just attached VBox_No_3D.log

Thanks Vittorio! This problem happens when VM has more than 1 screen and the secondary screens are not enabled. The fix will be included in the next VBox release.

You could try to change the VM configuration to use 1 screen as a workaround.

Hi sunlover1, I can confirm that settings just one monitor in VM configuration is a valid workaround for the black screen without 3d acceleration.
Thank you!
Do you have any idea when the version that contains the fix to this regression will be released?

[boxer01]

Replying to sunlover1:

Right, the mentioned fix is only for black screen when 3D is disabled. Other issues will be addressed, it just takes time.

Thank you for your reply. My next question is: my both linked tickets (#21515 and #21136) are closed, even if the bug still persists in 7.0.10. Should I open a new ticket for the current version? Or is there any hope for the opening of the old tickets? Anything else?

Another question: when you are talking about "the next VBox release", are you talking about the release on the next Critical Patch Updates date (17 October 2023)? Or would it be released earlier?

[boxer01]

This is a follow up #21806